Aftermath
by Taurus II
Summary: A few one-shots taking place after the Volume 3 finale. Not necessarily in continuity with each other.
1. Apologies

Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren sat clustered around a fire in an abandoned house along the road to Haven. Night came quickly in winter, and with it came a fiercer, more deadly chill, and the howls of beowolves in the distant dark. Their silence, too, grew darker, as the small distractions of walking and making camp no longer shielded them from the memories of what – and who – they had lost.

Ruby was the first to break the silence. "I'm sorry, Jaune," she said, giving words to the guilt that had nagged at her since she'd first contacted him after the fall of Beacon.

"Sorry for what?" he asked, but he knew.

"I was with Weiss when she got your call, during the battle. I… I'm sorry I didn't save Pyrrha." Tears welled up in her silver eyes, and her voice shook. Nora put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

Jaune swallowed past the lump in his throat. "It's not your fault," he said, blinking back tears of his own. "Pyrrha is – _was_ ," he choked, "better than any of us, but that woman… even Ozpin lost to her. It's not your fault she died before you could get up there."

"She was still alive when I got there," Ruby confessed in a whisper, beginning to cry in earnest.

"What?" Jaune asked, stunned.

"She was still alive when I got there," she repeated. "I think she was hurt – she was on her knees, not standing – but she was alive. Then Cinder shot her with an arrow, and I could see her aura bubbling up from her chest," Ruby sobbed, "and then she… she turned her to ash while I watched."

Jaune stared, horrified, his own tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I'm so, so sorry, Jaune! If only I'd been faster, if only I hadn't stopped to see what was happening, then Pyrrha… Pyrrha would…" Ruby broke down completely, and Nora wrapped her in a hug.

"It's not your fault, Ruby," she said, sniffling.

"Anyone would have needed a second to look at the situation before acting," Ren added.

"They're right," Jaune said, his voice breaking. "It's not your fault, it's woman's – Cinder's.. All of it is. I'm just glad she didn't get you, too."

"Thanks, Jaune." Ruby pulled away from Nora and wiped her eyes, still sniffling. "I'll, um, I'll take first watch."


	2. Memorial

It was hard for Ruby to believe, ascending the new spiral stairs to the floor that had once housed Ozpin's office, that it had been 12 years to the day since the Battle of Beacon—12 years since that awful day when their world had been plunged into chaos and darkness. It had taken her family and friends six years to track down and defeat the mastermind behind it all, and the wounds the kingdoms had suffered in that time were still not fully healed.

 _And some of them never will be_ , she thought, as she opened the door at the top of the stairs and stepped through. Here, at the top floor of the restored Beacon Tower, a life-size statue of Pyrrha Nikos stood in a heroic pose, gazing out over the school and city she had given her life to protect. "Come on, kids," she said, the tiniest catch in her voice as she turned back toward the stairs and waving them in. "It's time to visit Aunt Pyrrha."

Dark-haired Alizar followed her out first, his five-year-old face serious. "Are you and Daddy gonna cry again this year?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Probably," she replied, reaching down to take his hand in hers. "We miss her a lot." On her other side, three-year-old Marigold rushed up, her father's golden hair flying, to take Ruby's other hand, and behind her came Jaune Arc, carrying a lovingly-polished bronze circlet and a bouquet of flowers.

"Yeah, we do," he said softly. He set the circlet and bouquet at the statue's feet, then straightened up to look at its face, an almost perfect likeness. "I miss you so much, Pyrrha."

"So do I," Ruby added. "We all do. I'm sure everyone will be coming through to say so themselves, but... well, you know." She smiled sadly. "As you can see, Ali and Mari have grown a lot since our last visit..." She filled Pyrrha in on everything that had happened over the past year, managing to keep her voice steady and the tears at bay until the very end: "Tell my mom I'll be by to talk to her soon, and say hello to Penny for me. I miss you, Pyrrha, and I'm sorry."

She looked at Jaune and saw the tears running down his face, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Mindful of Pyrrha's stone gaze, she gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'll be downstairs with the kids, okay?" He nodded, and she headed back down the stairs, tugging Ali and Mari along.

Again, Ali had a question. "Mommy, why does Daddy always stay behind when we visit Aunt Pyrrha?"

"Daddy and Aunt Pyrrha loved each other a whole lot while we were all at school together," Ruby answered, trying to decide how much to say, and how much her children could understand. "It took him a long time to figure it out, though, and then the bad guys were trying to hurt everybody, and Aunt Pyrrha had to try to stop them, but they got her. So now Daddy spends extra time with her statue, to make up for the time they didn't have then."

By the time she'd finished speaking, they'd reached the floor below, the communications room. It was too early for the usual crowds of people placing and receiving calls to have arrived, but the elevator dinged as she steered her children to the nearest bench, and disgorged several familiar faces—Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, and Nora—and suddenly the room was filled with the sounds of old friends reunited.

Then Mari spoke up, having digested Ruby's words. "Does Daddy love Aunt Pyrrha more than you, Mommy?" The happy noise of reunion was suddenly, brutally silenced.

"People can love each other in lots of different ways, Mari. The way Daddy loves Aunt Pyrrha isn't the same as the way he loves me, or the way he loves you, but I promise he loves all of us with all his heart," Ruby said, smiling at her daughter. "And nothing will ever change that."

Though the long years of struggle had drawn them close, she and Jaune had never shared the spark she remembered between him and Pyrrha. When they'd finally saved Remnant, both had wanted a family and both were simply more comfortable with each other than with anyone else. Even after 5 years of marriage and two children, they were still more best friends than lovers; they were comfortable together, and that was enough.

So what she was saying was true, from a certain point of view. "Okay, pumpkin?" Ruby asked her daughter. Mari nodded. "Good. Now, why don't you go say hello to your cousins?" She watched Mari speed off and trailed behind, letting the voices of her reunited friends wash over her as her thoughts drifted back upstairs.

They were comfortable together, and that was enough.


End file.
